Significant challenges for a system that detects analytes (e.g., biological agents) in liquid media include concentration of the analyte in the media, and transport of the analyte to a sensor surface. For biological applications, concentration issues generally arise since the concentrations of such analytes tend to be low. Additionally, biological analytes (e.g., cells, cell fragments and macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids) tend to be relatively large; hence, transport issues arise because these larger analytes diffuse in fluid solution very slowly. A key metric for competitive detection is the amount of analyte accumulated on a sensor per unit time. For good performance, the rate of accumulation (and the resulting signal transient) needs to be fast relative to the sensor drift rate.
Another key performance metric for an analyte detection system is the degree to which the system can preferentially collect the analyte of interest on the sensor surface. Since many biological samples contain extraneous background components (e.g., other proteins, cells, nucleic acids, dirt), it is necessary to prevent these background components from interfering with the desired measurement. So, a transport method that selectively draws the analyte to the sensor and allows interfering background components to pass by has definite advantages. Such a method used in concert with selective binding of the analyte (e.g., antibody, complimentary DNA strands, etc.) to the sensor surface can deliver high sensitivity measurements for samples with large amounts of extraneous background components relative to the amount of analyte.
Various methods for improving transport of analyte to a sensor surface have been proposed, including filtration, novel flow geometries, acoustic fields, electrical fields (time varying and static) and magnetic fields.
Acoustic excitation has been used to draw cells to field nodes, but it is difficult to use this technique alone to transport material to a surface.
Electrical fields (electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis) have been used to enchance transport but are not universally applicable to all analytes and sample types. They are generally more effective for larger analytes (e.g., cells). Furthermore, the electrical properties of microbes can vary within a given species and strain, making it hard to predict system performance under all intended operating conditions. Sometimes it is necessary to tailor the ionic strength of the sample to improve the performance of the transport. This requirement can conflict with the optimum binding or wash conditions in an assay. Also, electrical fields can dissipate energy and heat conductive fluids (e.g, 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution), which is undesirable since heating can damage the biological analytes.
Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) methods are known in the art for isolating analyte from a sample.